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Drupal - Take Control module

Take Control is an administrative module for the popular Drupal CMS created by me last year primarily for managing this very website. The module is currently in its 2.x series with major enhancements and features being introduced in its 2.0 release, notably featuring a full-fledged File Browser/Manager.

The module package is available on the official module page listed above.

The current page you are viewing has been created as the permanent address for the module on my website, where I would provide updates on the module development status, and links to some other resources I have created for using the module. You can also use this for discussing with me any issues you face while using the module. However, please file all bug reports and feature requests at the official module issue queue.

I originally used FamFamFam icons for the File Browser, which I was not able to commit to the module's CVS because of licensing conflicts with Drupal. The module now ships with a default icon-set for the File Browser, that are GPL licensed. You can find addtional icon-sets for the File Browser here:http://www.rahulsingla.com/projects/drupal-take-control-module/icon-sets

Jun 18, 2011 - Drupal 7 port of the module is now available. Please download and test the same from the official module page at drupal.org.

Apr 30, 2012 - A greatly enhanced Drupal 7 version of the module with ability to configure accessible paths per-role and per-user is now available. Please help test the latest dev version from here and report any issues you find to enable releasing a stable version with the new features:http://drupal.org/node/1192922

Hi Colin, thanx for the feedback. I have just committed and created the 2.0-beta2 version of the module to the CVS. It is important that you download and install the latest version from the official module page.

Thanx again Colin for the feedback, you probably might be interested in another of my modules that I would release on drupal.org over the next few days. That module is basically for documentation sites, allowing authorized users to attach and rate custom reference links to documentation pages.

One important thing while using Take Control is to remember not to abuse Drupal's design. I created this module because I was suffocated on how Drupal completely alienated me to my site's own files directory. But it is equally important to remember that Drupal does this for security reasons. You should keep custom permissions on the files directory only for the minimum duration for which you want to access it from your FTP or Hosting panel, and should be immediately restored to Drupal defaults after your task is complete.

Equally important to remember is not to change .htaccess in the files folder, and not upload executable code files (e.g. with .php extension etc) into the files folder using this module's Upload feature.

Hi Chris, I think you can control the entire experience from the fb/get-files.php file. It should have a method to return the root folders, that you can easily customize even for user-specific root folders.

Please note I am out for some days, so the next reply if you post another comment can take sometime.

Once again thanks for your response. We were able to modify the code to point to a different root folder. Essentally allowing us to control what parts of the file system Take Control provides access to. We know find this to be a great tool for allowing users to access files through drupal like a cloud based file server. Private files is protecting file properly but our only issue is that Take Control is only available to users with the admin role. Do you know how we can change this to allow different roles access to this module?

Hi Chris, I have this in my to-do list for this module. Doing so would need some changes to module architecture, which I plan to make soon. Maybe you can add this as a feature request in the official issue queue for the module at d.o. and I will have a go at this as soon as I can.

I will further appreciate if you can provide links to where you are using this module so I can update the same on the project page for this module as a demonstration of the capabilities of the module.

Hi Chris, major enhancements have been committed for the 7.x-2.x branch of the module. The module now provides new permissions, enhanced administration options (including a demo mode option). The killer feature is ability to control accessible folder paths per-role and per-user.

Hi tracy, I am running an awful schedule these days. I won't have much time, I can try giving a quick look to see what's wrong (if you can email me the FTP details and User Id 1 credentials for your setup together with site url).

Hi Luca, please consult the module's README.txt. In its current version, the module is meant for admins. For a future version, I might look for allowing per user home directory, but that is NOT something I am looking for in the shorter term.

Hi Jose, I am not sure what could be the reason. Please verify that the directory you are trying to upload to is writable by Drupal (i.e. by your web server account). Currently, I cannot imagine any other reason for your issue. However, even in this case, the module should probably timeout and return an error.

HiI use IIS and Drupal 6.16.I have installed the module Take Control like you showed in the video tutorial.When I access the Take Control module I get a error message. Please see the attached screen shot . Can you help me?

Thanks for your "take control" module. It surely looks great. Unfortunately, I am not quite ready to use it yet, because everytime I try to use the file browser, a window pops up saying, "Action Failure. You are not authorized to perform this action."

I believe I have followed the installation instructions properly. Do you have any suggestions on how to solve this issue?

Hi, I believe I installed correctly per your instructions. The module components are showing as enabled in the modules UI and I uploaded the extjs library as /sites/all/libraries/extjs/3.4.0. as my version is 3.4.0. But I don't see the Take Control section under Administration>Configuration. I'm using Drupal 7 version of your module on drupal 7.

I added the libraries after I installed and enabled the module though; could that be the issue? If so, I could uninstall and reinstall the module to see if that causes the Take Control section to show in the configuration page. Let me know your thoughts on this. Thanks!

Hi cascadia, sorry for the delayed reply. I do not recall exactly but I think that could well be the issue. However, if you visit the module's configuration page, it would search the disk again for ExtJs library versions and should be able to detect then. Disabling and reenabling should also help.

EDIT: I just checked the module's code. It tries to detect the ExtJs library when you visit the File Browser page also, and you need not disable/enable the module. So if this is not working for you, I will visit the module's configuration page and ensure that atleast one ExtJs library version is listed there in the drop-down and save the settings.

Hi Rahul, first of all thanks for developing such a great module for drupal.

I am trying to upload the small file but I get "Failure " error but after reloading the page I can see uploaded file. files are getting uploaded but I can see those only if I reload the page. Plesae advise.

I have intalled this module with no errors but the comprasion of a folder is not working properly when i check sites folder and click compress it only compress empty site folder and subdirectories and files are not compressed. the uncompress feature works perfectly.

one other thing that it gives me the notice when after running database update on my site.

Hi Fawad, please ensure that the web-server account has read/execute access for the folders you are trying to compress and write access to the destination directory where the compressed file would be created.

Can you please report the other issue (Undefined index) on the official issue queue for this module so it remains on my list of to-dos.

I have same problem , compression of one deirectories +files inside it works fine but if directories has subdirectories inside, it compress only 21kb and subdirectories looks like file after compression .

I Have given read / write permissions to all the directories and destination directory but it dosen't work.

Hi Jony, I think the web server account would also need execute permission on the directories. Can you please check that. If the problem still persists, please report it at the official issue queue of the module at d.o. and I will have a look when I get back to this module.

i uploaded several images with styles and when i compress with your module or folder, only images that are in the folder are zipped, but images that are in subfolders or the subfolders arent zipped. the zipped folder has an empty file with the name of subfolders.

i have tried also with permission 777 to all folders and files (with your module), but there is not diference.

i have also created a folder with your module and upload a zip with folders and images into it and unzipped and then zipped it, and there is the same problem.